If Canada Shall Decline The Proposition, Then The
Stipulations In Regard To The Saint Lawrence Canals And A Railway From
Ottawa To Sault Ste.
Marie, with the Canadian clause of debt and
revenue indemnity, will be relinquished.
If the plan of union shall
only be accepted in regard to the north western territory and the
Pacific Provinces, the United States will aid the construction, on the
terms named, of a railway from the western extremity of Lake Superior,
in the State of Minnesota, by way of Pembina, Fort Garry, and the
valley of the Saskatchewan, to the Pacific coast, north of latitude
forty-nine degrees, besides securing all the rights and privileges of
an American territory to the proposed territories of Selkirk,
Saskatchewan, and Columbia."
So much for an outrage of a character unheard of and unparalleled. It
was the result of "uncertain sounds;" of "duffer" government.
Let me give some illustrations. Before we began the, finally
successful, movement for the Intercolonial Railway, the confederation
of the Provinces of North America, and the final completion of a
railway binding the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific together, the
Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., wrote a "letter to the Right Hon. B.
Disraeli, M.P., on the present relations of England with the Colonies."
It was a skinflint document, and here are a couple of quotations: -
Page 57. - "I would have the Canadian Government, in the right time and
manner, informed that after a. certain date, unless war were going on,
they would have to provide for their own garrisons, as well as all
their requisite peace establishments, as they might deem fit; and that
they should be prepared to hold their own in case of foreign attack, at
least till the forces of the Empire could come to their aid."
Page 50. - "Let Canada, however, by all means look to England in the hour
of peril also; but if the sight of English red-coats, at all times, has
become a needful support of Canadian confidence, and English pay has
ceased to be resented as a symptom of dependence, we must bow humbly
under the conviction that Canada is no longer inhabited by men like
those who conquered her."
Then I must quote my revered friend, Mr. Cobden, who, addressing his
relative, Colonel Cole (at one time administrator of New Brunswick), on
the 20th March, 1865, only thirteen days before his ever-to-be-lamented
death, wrote about Canada: "We are two peoples to all intents and
purposes, and it is a perilous delusion to both parties to attempt to
keep up a sham connection and dependence, which will snap asunder if it
should ever be put to the strain of stem reality. It is all very well
for our cockney newspapers to talk of defending Canada at all hazards.
It would be just as possible for the United States to sustain Yorkshire
in a war with England as for us to enable Canada to contend against the
United States. It is simply an impossibility. We must not forget that
the only serious danger of a quarrel between these two neighbours
arises from the connection of Canada with this country. In my opinion
it is for the interest of both that we should, as speedily as possible,
sever the political thread by which we are, as communities, connected,
and leave the individuals on both sides to cultivate the relations of
commerce and friendly intercourse as with other nations." ... "There
is, I think, an inherent weakness in the parody of our old English
constitution, which is performed on the miniature scenes of the
Colonial capitals, with their speeches from the throne, votes of
confidence, appeals to the country, changes of ministry, &c., and all
about such trumpery issues that the game at last becomes ridiculous in
the eyes of both spectators and actors."
Speaking in the House of Commons on the second reading of the British
North America Bill, in 1867, Mr. Bright said: "Is this new State - or
this new nation, as I think Lord Monck described it - to be raised up
under the authority of an Act of Parliament - is everything to be done
for it? Is it intended to garrison its fortresses by English troops? At
present there are, I believe, in the Province 12,000 or 15,000 men.
There are persons in this country, and there are some also in the North
American Provinces, who are ill-natured enough to say that not a little
of the loyalty that is said to prevail in Canada has its price. I think
it is natural and reasonable to hope that there is in that country a
very strong attachment to this country. But if they are constantly to
be applying to us for guarantees for railways, and for fortresses, and
for works of defence; if everything is to be given to a nation
independent in everything except Lord Monck and his successors, and
except in the contributions we make for these public objects, then I
think it would be far better for them, and for us - cheaper for us, and
less demoralising for them - that they should become an independent
State, and maintain their own fortresses, fight their own cause, and
build up their own future, without relying upon us. And when we know,
as everybody knows, that the population of Canada, family for family,
is in a much better position as regards the comforts of home than
family for family are in the great bulk of the population of this
country - I say the time has come when it ought to be clearly understood
that the taxes of England are no longer to go across the ocean to
defray expenses of any kind within the confederation which is about to
be formed. The Right Honorable gentleman the Under-Secretary of the
Colonies (Mr. Adderley) has never been an advocate for great
expenditure in the Colonies by the Mother Country. On the contrary, he
has been one of the members of this House who have distinguished
themselves by what I will call an honest system to the Mother Country,
and what I believe is a wise system to the Colonies.
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